“There should be more coordination between the Iraqi security forces and the Kurdistan Peshmerga forces,” Bakhtyar Mohammed, secretary general of the Peshmerga ministry, told Rudaw’s Mohammed Sheikh Fatih during a televised interview, noting the cooperation is needed to protect the areas in a security vacuum between the Kurdistan Region and federal Iraq.
The Peshmerga official said that although ISIS has been defeated militarily, the group is still active ideologically and it has become more active.
“Joint brigades between the Iraqi security forces and the Peshmerga forces must be put into operation as soon as possible and increase their numbers so that ISIS can no longer take advantage of security gaps,” Mohammed said.
On Sunday morning, at least one member of the Kurdish internal security forces (Asayish) and a suspected ISIS fighter were killed during a skirmish in Kirkuk’s Qarahanjir subdistrict.
“As a result of obtaining prior intelligence and careful monitoring and investigation, forces of Kirkuk’s Asayish directorate clashed with two ISIS fighters who they were attempting to arrest. As a result, one terrorist was killed and another was arrested after being wounded,” the Asayish said in a statement.
The two suspects were accused of participating in several “terrorist” acts across Kirkuk which had led to the death of at least five police officers, according to the statement.
Mohammed, the Peshmerga secretary general, stressed that the US-led international anti-ISIS coalition's intelligence assistance must be used "to know how to confront these forces [ISIS] and the shelters that exist in the region.”
He also highlighted that assistance from the coalition to the Pehsmerga has decreased, as the relationship is shifting into more of an advisory role.
ISIS rose to power and seized control of large swathes of Iraqi territory during a brazen offensive in 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017, when its so-called caliphate in the country fell to Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, supported by the US-led international coalition.
Despite its territorial defeat, the group continues to carry out hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions in several provinces, particularly in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, which stretch across the provinces of Salahaddin, Diyala, Kirkuk, and Nineveh.
Last year, to secure the disputed territories that stretch across several provinces including Kirkuk, Salahaddin, and Diyala, the Iraqi army and Peshmerga formed joint brigades launching operations targeting ISIS remnants. Land, property, and other disagreements are common in the disputed areas.
